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Friday, April 29, 2011

DH took Gwennan on a shopping trip for an upcoming camping trip (he's leaving in about 2 hours). With a quiet morning, I felt the need to blog.

I'm realizing the problem with sporadic blogging. It's hard to find anything to say unless you provide big news or you are in the habit of talking about the details of your life everyday. Reading my Bible isn't that different. If I'm doing it everyday, a slow day in Leviticus is no big deal. If I'm sporadic, it's very hard to read.

Anyway, my head is swamped with images of houses, where we would place furniture, what color I'd paint the walls, how I would work in the kitchen, blind guesses at the atmosphere in the neighborhood. I'm allowing myself to become exhausted with analysis. I wish I had a spread sheet where I just plugged in numbers and magically came up with the correct house at the end.

Honestly, I think we found the right house; I'm just being a wimp about it. Owning a house is such a big responsibility, and I'm nervous to take it on again. But this house has everything: well designed kitchen, small office space for my sewing machine, sunroom, 3 bedrooms, hardwood floors, fireplace, HUGE workshop for Tim (He would finally be out of the guest room!), quiet neighborhood two streets from the bay, fenced in yard, extra parking, laundry room. Even as I write this, I'm thinking, "Come on, fool. Make an offer!"

In years past, I've prided myself on being decisive. However, a couple of my decisions, big decisions, have haunted me. For instance, the dog I brought home 2 summers ago who never bonded with us, insisted on pooping only on carpet and chewed on our furniture if we didn't give her our undivided attention. We found a new home for her, but I still get calls that she's escaped and can I come pick her up (microchips are only helpful if you update the info!). Basically, I question my own judgement.

Please pray for us as we make a decision, maybe even this week about housing. In the meantime, we're constructing a new patio at our current house and landscaping parts of the backyard. My postpartum brain is so overrun with decisions right now that I can hardly grocery shop. Thanks for your prayers!

Monday, April 18, 2011

In case you're wondering, I didn't. Maybe I should have. Then I would have spent my extra time meditating on Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection instead of whatever I've been doing (most of which I don't remember).

Still house hunting. And bad news for the avid "Momma" reader, the house at the top of the list is a major fixer upper. That means lots of manual labor for me (hopefully accompanied by lots of weight loss) but not much time for writing. But I'm really excited (like wake me up at night excited) about the chance to make a house totally ours, I mean, top to bottom, in and out, ours.

One of my favorite parts about this house is that none of the appliances/HVAC work, so we can replace them with greener models. It's hard to justify replacing a working furnace, but a rusty dinosaur that sounds like a jet engine... I can apply a smug, "look at me, aren't I green" smirk on my face as I watch it drive off. I like that (which is why God hasn't given me a Prius; I would have a permasmirk).

To add to my creative excitement, this month's issues of Real Simple and Ready Made arrived this week. I've been slowly pouring over the pages, dog earring projects I want to tackle. When do I have time for this?!! I don't know. A girl can dream, right.

I'm making a mental "at our next house" list. At the top of my list right now, no gravel! That sounds nitpicking, but I can't count the number of times I've embedded a rock in my foot that has been carefully placed in the middle of the kitchen floor by my daughter. Each rock is different, and she is determined to show me every single one. It used to be pine needles. They were much softer. I actually miss finding handfuls of pine needles in the living room.

This has been a silly, rambling post, but it's a pretty accurate picture of my mental state. Please pray for us as we continue in the house hunting process.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Whew - I came home just in time. Gwenny woke up with a low grade fever and a bloody nose?? Random combination.

Afton and I spent the weekend in Knoxville visiting my sister for her final art exhibit. In three weeks, she's officially a professional ceramist, no longer a student. My parents are almost done with us. Almost.

I couldn't mention my trip before because we were trying to surprise Sarah. Granted she only reads the blog about twice a year, but Murphey's Law dictates that she would read the blog as soon as I hinted the trip. None of that even matters because the surprise didn't work. She just assumed I'd come. She told everyone at the craft center I was coming even though all evidence pointed to the contrary. She knew I couldn't skip her big day.

The show was fantastic! Want to see?

Covered Bakers with Lionfish Detail

"Xray Plates" - Each animal has a raised section showing an Xray image.
My fav - The chicken has an egg.

Every piece of fabric in this quilt was hand dyed. Super cool.

The softer side of Sarah - her linens, again all hand dyed

Bug Mugs - each mug has a different bug inlayed on the porcelain.
I brought one home for Tim.

Set of measuring cups - 1 cup, 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup. This would induce anyone to bake.

Finally, my apron. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. Afterall, I looked at that pattern for months in microscopic anatomy. It's skin, microscopic skin. I love it. It satisfies my nerdy science side and my crafty side at one time. Also, I've wanted a Sarah apron for about 4 years now. She made one for my other sister, and I've been waiting around for mine to appear. It's finally here.

Visiting the craft center wasn't the inspirational moment you might expect. I mostly felt defeated, at least I did while wandering around the gallery. Now that I'm home and more removed from the unattainable artistry, I'm feeling somewhat more inspired. Hopefully, some interesting posts will come out of the beautiful work I saw this weekend.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Wow. Why did I think I'd have time to blog this year? I was telling my mom the other day that I get good time with the girls every day, but I don't remember it. Life is a bit of a blur right now. In order to craft, I give up blogging. Sorry.

Today isn't even a crafty post. By request, I'm offering an update.

Afton

At her last check up, she weighed 11 lbs. 10 oz. (10th percentile) and measured 24.5" (50th percentile). She's right on track with Gwenny's growth curve. Also, she has periodic reflux issues which have contributed to some late nights and lots of cuddling on bad days. Part of my shortage of posts.

Milestones: Afton now giggles at Gwenny, babbles to us, plays with her feet all the time, rolls over from front to back and can sit up in the boppy for short periods. So far, no interest in table food, so we haven't bothered yet. She's still a delightful, low maintenance girl with a brilliant smile and very kissable cheeks.

Gwennan

I'm not sure how tall she is, but she's up to 23 lbs. of bulldozer-like muscle. Six teeth have popped through with 2 molars threatening.

Milestones: She literally runs laps around our house. Her vocabulary is growing steadily at this point. You can tell her favorite subjects by the words she learns. So far, her focus is on: sister!, food, animals and gardening. We dance everyday to Silly Songs with Larry and spend at least 45 minutes watching the "fishies" and birds. Oh yeah, and Gwenny lavishes "sissy" with hugs and kisses and most recently pulls Afton into her lap for cuddles. They are adorable together.

Tim and I

We're looking for a house of our own! We love the house we're in now, and our landlords are fantastic. But we also need a permanent place on the peninsula. Right now, we still feel itinerant which is not a good quality in ministry.

House hunting is time consuming, especially when you're budget is limited. That's really the excuse for my lack of posting. Every spare afternoon is spend house hunting, as is my computer time. So far, we've seen lots of "no ways" and a couple "hmm... this has potential." When we find a place, I'll post pics.

Also, last week Tim's brother visited. We had a wonderful time with Uncle Will, fishing, visiting Bluebird Gap Farm, touring Langley AFB and building countless block towers for Gwennan to destroy. The week went by so fast which is always a good sign when family comes to town.